I get mocked/teased/criticized often for being the fat dog police. Everybody in my group warns new members that if their dog is fat, I'll be sure to point it out. And they don't always tease in a friendly manner. I'm not sure why I'm so criticized for it - I do it in a friendly, gentle way and I'm truly not doing it out of aesthetic appeal (though healthy dogs DO look better than overweight ones), but I'm doing it for health reasons. Nobody seems to believe me though. I try to point out that their dog is looking at a good chance of early onset arthritis, hip/joint issues and possibly heart/organ issues, and all I get is, "yeah yeah yeah, not everybody's dog can look like Inara." Well yeah, they can. You know why? WE CONTROL WHAT THEY EAT. I'm not sure why that's so hard for people. Feeding your dog extra doesn't mean you're loving it more - it means you're killing it sooner.

Anyway, I just felt like venting. It truly does bother me how much I get criticized for trying to help people have healthy dogs.

"Remember - every time your dog gets somewhere on a tight leash *a fairy dies and it's all your fault.* Think of the fairies." http://www.positivepetzine.com"

I hear ya.........Not that I'm around other people and their dogs, but so many people comment on me starving Dar. (hardly) because we can see his ribs. Yes, I keep him lean for all those health reasons-----it feeels good to indulge our pets, kids, etc., and people never want to give up feeling good. They just need to flip that over and learn to feel good by NOT over feeding, they could feel that same sense of "giving" to their pet.

“Hope has two beautiful daughters: their names are Anger and Courage. Anger that things are the way they are. Courage to make them the way they ought to be.”----Augustine

This is so me. Everyone else raves about how adorable a dog is and all I can say is "he's fat." That's the first thing I notice about a dog and I have a hard time saying anything positive about the dog's appearance if he's fat.

After doing it for years . . . I gave up. Now, WHEN people ask me, I will give my opinion on weight and what should be done, but otherwise I find that people are even more defensive about their pets' weight than they are about their own, thus they ignore you and an animosity forms. Here and there I might make a comment, but only if it is pertinent to the training situation or an obvious health issue. But otherwise . . . my mouth stays shut. I have found that it gains me more people who are willing to listen to the advice as opposed to turning people against me and doing the opposite.

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." -Anatole France

You're not alone,though I too have learned to keep my mouth shut most of the time unless I'm asked. Then I bite my tongue and try really hard to come up with a creative way to say that food does not equal love.

SisMorphine wrote:After doing it for years . . . I gave up. Now, WHEN people ask me, I will give my opinion on weight and what should be done, but otherwise I find that people are even more defensive about their pets' weight than they are about their own, thus they ignore you and an animosity forms. Here and there I might make a comment, but only if it is pertinent to the training situation or an obvious health issue. But otherwise . . . my mouth stays shut. I have found that it gains me more people who are willing to listen to the advice as opposed to turning people against me and doing the opposite.

yup...I'm just not the type to tell people this anyway...but I have to keep most of my fat dogs as clients...so I can't afford to piss off the owners!

I have one REALLY obese golden client...and his mom is always asking..."did he run a lot today, I'm sure he ran rings around everyone!" ha. Like he can play for 5 minutes without losing his breath...whereas my athletes do this every day, repeatedly, over and over...

"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw

I should clarify that I rarely say anything to the dog's owner. It's more dogs that come into the shelter where I work, or at dog festival events, etc. when friends of mine ooh and ah over how cute or pretty a dog is and all I can come up with is, "he's fat."

I just got in trouble...Michelle showed me the extra Xmas cards she had..."aren't they cute?" I said..."no, not really" It's an obese English bulldog with candy cane antlers...I guess the idea is cute, but I can't get past the HUGE belly and love handles...so she got mad and said..."you think it's too fat...well, get past that!"

nope...can't do it...

"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw

I think its kind of like giving unsolicited advice. That in combo with most people mirroring their dogs with looks, so they may feel the same about their weight as they do about their dog's(and I know people are all shapes and sizes but some people are they shape -or not- they're in due to their own inactivity and laziness.

I'll tell really doggy friends, really good friends, or my parents, but other then that, I wait to be asked for my opinion.

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
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"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07

I'm totally embarrassed by River's extra pounds THAT WE ARE WORKING ON. But I hate it. I'm seeing it get harder for her to get around, she's developing lipomas. We've cut back her food again, and I'm going to try to get more exercise for her. Sigh.

But I am freakishly proud when someone thinks my girls need to put on a few pounds. I got insecure about it and asked my vet if Luna was too skinny... and he told me to absolutely NOT put more weight on her, she is conditioned beautifully, and "you know what you're doing, so keep doing it." He's a very traditional vet; he knows I do raw and a lot of holistic hippie stuff, so I felt extra good about his assessment...

But then Luna lost a couple of pounds, and we discovered she'd gotten the one worm her heartworm doesn't treat. :\

"In these bodies, we will live; in these bodies we will die.Where you invest your love, you invest your life." --Marcus Mumford